rewolf wrote:retroleds wrote:I'm dropping back to the metric system idscussion...I'm of the opinion that many of
us will continue to resist the metric system, for good reason, in many common areas of our lives .................. The rest of the time the metric system is just a pain in the arse for use....I mean "
us".
Very interesting viewpoint, it seems to me this is merely a matter of what one is used to, because IMHO it is just the other way round
It probably is partly a familiarity factor on some of these. For your example of the person's height. Early on
we can recognize an adult person as being small(5 foot to 5 foot, six inches), medium(5 foot, six to 6 foot even), large(6 foot to maybe 6 foot, six inches). 1.8 meters would tell
me nothing, and 170 centimeters even less.
I would agree that the freezing point of water could have been placed at "0" in farenheit...but increments of 1 degree faren. are very close to .5 degree cels., which allows for adjustment or discussion of temperatures for many situations without resorting to a decimal point.
Wire sizes are seemingly arbitrary - the AWG system makes stepping between 16 extremely common wire sizes very simple by referring to a resistance per foot chart, the same as you would refer to a chart for the the specific resistance of a particular cross section of copper.
Land measurements - I've been all over the USA and never seen a ruler or measuring tape using any other sized foot, although many surveying tapes are incremented in .1 foot to make the math simpler than the 12 inches in one foot.
Somebody mentioned bolt sizes...other than specialized bolts(for submarines?) the vast majority of threaded bolts in the USA are sold in NSC(course) and NSF(fine threads). The threads per inch graduate downward within each of those types as the bolt diameter steps down. Any bolt of a particular diameter will always have the same threads. The general populace has no problem with it and doesn't need the specifications.
Other systems work good for engineers and those making certain measurements...the rest of the measurements have a relationship to the common dimensions/sizes/quantities sold or consumed of the products, which works just great for the general populace. Sort of like discussing watch bands.....a size expressed in 1/4 inch increments seems to suffice, since most people can't make up their minds on what size they have exactly(for comfortable fit) to the nearest mm., and a cm. would be too imprecise.
Why did I even enter this topic?....it is like asking someone to change their language, or what they typically eat. Example: "Rewolf" is from Germany - my mother was from Germany and claimed that corn was rarely eaten by people as a feshly cooked item, but was generally reserved for animals(which explains why mom always ruins the corn by overcooking). I personally like eating corn right off the cob....I hope this does not make me an animal.
I am always glad when you guys get waaaaaay off track in a thread, it tells me you are interacting nicely and enjoying yourselves.
I am 185.42 cm tall(6 feet, 1 inch)....generally people just say, " you're fairly tall", not huge, but just into the tall category.
Weight: 102.05829 kg. Yeah, yeah, bigger than a freakin bread box. Same height and weight as Arnold Schwartzeneger at his prime......he easily outweighs me by 15 kg. now.
24 May 2008, 14:20
identify than 1 mm increments(particularly frustrating selecting metric wrenches whilst laying on one's back in less than perfect lighting). Goods sold by USA standard volumes or weights are divided into realistic "human" 
